Safety Catch
by Daisee Chain
Summary: They took Christmas away."


* * *

**RIVER**

They took Christmas away.

**JAYNE**

Christmas?

**RIVER**

Came down the stairs for the shiny

presents, but they took the tree and

the stockings. Nothing left but coal.

**SIMON**

River, what are you talking about?

**RIVER**

Christmas. You can't open your

presents before.

**JAYNE**

Shut her up.

**RIVER**

And don't look in the closet, either.

That's greedy. It's not in the

spirit of the holiday.

**JAYNE**

Shut. The hell. Up. Right now. Or

so help me I will shut you up.

* * *

He'd been five years old, the day they first came. His Momma was out in the yard, hanging washing, the littlest ones playing round her feet. He could hear her yelling at them. When the doorbell rang, he didn't think anything of it. Just ran and opened the door.

Taking care of the house was man stuff. It was his job while Pa was away working. So he opened the door, just a crack and peeped through.

"Cobb around, Son?"

"I'm Cobb." He stood a little straighter as he said it.

He could see straight up the stranger's nose as the man sneered. "Meant your father, boy."

"He'll be back later. Come see him then."

"Where is he now?"

"Working."

For some reason that made the man laugh. And the friends he'd brought with him. "Is he now? First time for everythin' I suppose." Then he squatted so that they were face to face.

"Tell your father Carson came to collect. Tell him it's time."

"Time for what?"

"Don't you worry. Just you tell him what I told you." And he reached out and ruffled Jayne's hair. "Take care now."

Jayne scowled, and smoothed down his hair as the strangers turned and left.

He didn't leave the front door till Ma came to find him.

* * *

They'd never seen nothing like it. Pa had brought home a real live tree, and ormaments to hang on it. But that was nothing compared to what was under the tree. More presents than any of them had ever seen before. There had to be at least three each, wrapped in fancy paper, and little ones too in the stockings on the pegs over the fireplace, instead of the usual pieces of coal and bunches of lychees. The fifth time she caught Moochy hanging round the sitting room instead of being outside where he ought, Ma forbade anyone to go near the tree till Christmas day. That didn't stop them peeking when they were meant to be working. Jayne found chores easier if he was imagining what might be inside the shiny boxes. Somehow, the muddy days went faster than normal this year.

"Jayne?"

Jayne snuggled further under the heavy woollen blankets.

Little brother wasn't deterred. "Jayne?"

Jayne turned his back on the source of his irritation. "What?" he asked the wall.

"Where d'ya think he got it from?"

"Where'd who get what?" He swore Ben made less sense every day older he got.

"The money. Where'd Pa get the money for all those presents?"

"Don't know. Don't care." Jayne pulled the blanket up over his head to muffle the noise.

Ben wasn't so easily put off. "But he must have got it somewhere, right?"

Jayne squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he couldn't see him, he wouldn't be able to hear him either.

"Right? I mean, stands to reason, Pa must've saved up his earnin's or som'at, right?"

Jayne said something in Chinese that would have earned him a cuff on the ear if Ma had heard. He sat up, hurling the blanket to the end of the bed. "Listen. Pa found the money, so Pa found the money. No point in trying to work it out. No good ever came of thinkin' too hard. But if we don't get some sleep we won't get our chores done in the mornin', and like as not Ma'll take away those presents you're so fired up about. So quit yapping and go to sleep!" He was so busy glaring into the gloom at Ben that he didn't see the pillow coming.

"For all that's holy, will you two keep it down over there! Some of us have to get up to help with breakfast."

"Sorry, Sis." said Ben.

Jayne didn't apologise to Matty. He didn't see how any of this was his fault. Even so, as he searched for the blanket at the bottom of his bed and pulled it up around him, he recalled something Pa had said to him last Christmas. _"You see those bushes over there? Well, if they start sprouting money as fruit, then you can have your fancy toys and clothes. Until then, you'll just have to put up with what we got."_

Ben was a pain 'cause he thought too much, but what he thought was often right. Just where had Pa got the money?

"It's Father Christmas!" whispered Moochy, for the fifth time.

"S'not!" Ben was scowling. "There's no such thing."

"Says who?"

"Says my sckience cyclopedics." Ben nodded, as if that settled the matter. "They say Santy Claus is a myth."

Matty, still pulling on her threadbare robe and slippers, looked sharply in their direction. "Get away from that door, and keep quiet."

Jayne watched her carefully. She had a temper on her, and she looked to be getting riled. He glanced at Ben and Moochy, thought briefly about joining them, but hung back when Matty walked stealthily up behind them. She put her hand round Moochy's mouth, and held him firm while he stopped quaking. "Quiet!" She hissed.

Nobody argued with Matty, so they fell still and silent. Soft, thudding noises drifted up through the floorboards. If it was Santa, he'd brung really big elves with him, and they were wearing clompy boots.

Matty firmly moved Moochy away from the crack in the door. She looked at each of them. "You lot, stay here. Don't come out until I tell you." She edged the door open and crept out, her slippered feet making soft shushing sounds on the landing.

Jayne frowned. No way was he being told what to do by a girl, even if she was older than him.

"She said to stay here," said Ben.

"Shut it". Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. "No, Moochy! Stay here!" He grabbed for their smallest brother, but it was too late. He'd made it out onto the landing. Jayne dashed out only to find Moochy knelt, peering through the railings. He grabbed his smallest brother by the shoulders and tried hauling him back. "Get away from there!"

"Well, what have we here?"

They froze. A stranger was staring up at them from by the hearth, pointing a really big gun in their direction.

Jayne saw another man nod in the direction of the stairs. "Boss," he said quietly.

The man with the big gun looked toward the stairs where Matty was had frozen mid-step. "Huh," was all he said, but he cocked his head at her, and a third man reached up and grabbed her elbow to haul her down the rest of the steps and over by the fire.

When the really big gun was waved toward the stairs, Jayne got a heavy feeling in his stomach, but he pulled Moochy along with him, struggling all the way across the landing. They made it to the base of the stairs before Moochy made a break for the presents under the tree. One of the thugs dragged him away and got kicked in his shins for his trouble.

The Foreman made a face, that Jayne didn't think meant well for Moochy. "Any more of you?" He asked Matty.

Matty just poked out her chin at him, and folded her arms.

"Hoss, go check the other rooms."

The man who'd dragged Matty down the stairs, ran up them two at a time, and flung open the door to their parents' room, and went inside.

"Never mind him," said the head guy, "You just do what we tell you." He waved the gun again. "Go sit by that wall."

Heart pounding, Jayne backed up to the wall, slid down it, and hugged his knees.

"You too," said the Foreman to Moochy.

Moochy looked over at Jayne, then back at the presents.

"Oh for the love of God!" The Foreman grabbed Moochy by the shoulder and spun him in Jayne's direction. Moochy hit the wall with a thud, and fell against Jayne. Jayne kept his eyes on the gun.

A short scream from the direction of the landing told him that Hoss had found Ben. There was some thumping and swearing, and then more thumping, as Hoss came downstairs with Ben thrown over his shoulder. He dumped Ben against the wall on the other side of Jayne, then went back to rifling through the drawers he'd abandoned.

The Foreman looked at them for a while. Jayne shivered. Why hadn't Ma built the fire up before she and Pa went out? It was real cold in here.

The second man was busy pulling Ma's best linens out of the linen press. "Useless." He held up a threadbare sheet to the light. "Look, you can see right through this!" He threw it on the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Keep searching. There must be something worth salvaging."

Matty snorted. "We ain't got no money."

The Foreman looked at her in a funny way, and Jayne saw her eyes go wide.

"You won't get me!" she yelled as she dove for the fire iron.

The whine of the gun being heating up stopped her. She straightened up sharply.

Foreman sighed. "I don't want you, stupid kid. You'll fetch less money than that fancy tree." He eyed the tree.

Matty sucked in her breath to tell him what for.

He pointed the gun at her. "Don't. Even. Start." He waved her toward Jayne. "Go sit by your brothers."

She opened her mouth, but stopped when he growled. Instead, she flicked her hair over her shoulder, and stomped over to join them at the wall. Once she was sitting down, the man in charge lowered the gun. He looked back at Hoss. "You found anything yet?"

"Nah. There's nothing here. It's all junk." Hoss glanced over in Jayne's direction. "Poor bastards. I wouldn't wanna live here."

Foreman walked over to the tree, knelt, and picked up one of the presents. He eyed it thoughtfully for a minute, before holstering his gun and tearing the paper off the box. On the side of the box, Jayne could clearly see an image of a home science kit - shiny, complicated, and expensive. Foreman whistled. "Well, now we know what he spent the money on." He turned the box in his hands. "Guess these'll have to do." He nodded at Hoss. "Get these loaded up."

Hoss grunted in acknowledgement and started gathering the gifts. The others copied him.

Foreman turned to Jayne again. "Sorry, kid." He shrugged. "But your Pa gots to learn sometime. He can't keep what he owes elsewheres." He walked over to the fireplace and picked up a lump of coal from the grate. "And the stockings, too," he called over his shoulder to Hoss. "Catch," he said, throwing the coal at Jayne.

Jayne caught it on reflex. He looked at it. The edges left black smudges on his palm.

"It's an ancient tradition," he heard Foreman say, "giving coal for Christmas. We forget the past at our peril." Jayne just kept staring at the coal. He didn't want to see them taking away the presents. Didn't want to see them taking away everything he'd wanted.

The gang were almost out the front door when Matty screamed.

Moochy's head was in Matty's lap, and there was blood all over her skirt, and her hands. Jayne tracked the trail of blood from Matty to the wall where Moochy had hit it. He looked back at Moochy. Matty was shaking him harder and harder, but he just flopped around like an eel out of water. Ben made a mewing sound and rocked back and forwards. Then everything went funny, like wading through treacle.

It must have been him moving his feet up the stairs, two at a time, but it felt funny - like someone else was moving him, like a pair of big hands squeezing his head, pushing him across the landing to his parents' room. Their closet was locked, but Jayne knew where they hid the key under the hope chest. He'd never been able to shift it on his own before, but for some reason it just slid away this time. The key was slippery in his hands and he nearly dropped it, he was shaking so hard.

Closet open. Shotgun in hands. Loaded. Safety off. Downstairs. Out the door. Aim.

Fire.

For a second he thought it hadn't gone off. Everything and everyone seemed frozen. Then he noticed the smoke curling from the barrel. There was also a hole in the side of the gang's truck.

Foreman growled. "Keep loading, boys." The gang calmly went back to loading the truck. Foreman walked to the cab at the front and reached in. He pulled out a shape and swung back in Jayne's direction. It was the biggest damn gun Jayne had ever seen. It had two barrels, each bigger than his fists, and it was pointed right at him.

Pa's shotgun got heavier and heavier. Panting, Jayne tried to heave it back up to aim again. The sound of Foreman's gun heating up stopped him.

"You're brave, kid. I'll give you that. But you're also dead dumb. Never get in a fight you can't win. There's always someone with a bigger piece." He motioned downward. "Put the damn thing down. Before you get yourself hurt."

Heart hammering, Jayne did as he was told. He stood and watched as they started up the van. Stood and watched as Foreman got in the cab. Stood and watched as they flew off. Stood and watched.

After a bit, there were shapes next to him, He thought they might be the neighbours. They asked him what was wrong. He didn't answer. Somewhere behind him Matty was still screaming.

He looked at the gun. Pa'd be pissed if he left it outside, he thought. He picked it up and followed the neighbours inside. When he got to the living room, he put the safety back on, and gently placed it on the table. He looked round.

The presents were gone. There were a few scraps of paper, but nothing else. The pegs over the fireplace were empty. There was linen and cutlery on the floor. There was a gap in the corner where the tree had been. Ben was still rocking like a seesaw. Matty was still shaking Moochy, but she'd stopped screaming. She was just crying now. Moochy was still dead. The lump of coal was still where he'd dropped it.

He walked over and picked it up. A piece had chipped off one edge when it hit the floor. The new surface was shiny and smooth. He turned it round a few times.

Then he put it in his pocket, and walked out the door.

* * *

A voice called down the hatch. "Jayne? You in there? Sheppard's makin' supper."

"Be right there."

He examined Vera. Shiny as a new pin. She was a beautiful piece, alright. Worth every platinum he'd paid for her. And she was always the biggest damn gun at any fight. Lovingly, he placed her back on the rack that kept everything in order, each piece in place, in case he needed them.

Carefully, he hung the blanket over his babies. "Night, night," he whispered.

Just before he left, he brushed his hand over his good luck stone. Then he wiped the black dust off on his trousers, and hoisted himself up the ladder.


End file.
